Countering Polarization with Presence
Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, was pelted with eggs and shoes by a small group protesting his support of the Iraq war when he did a book signing in Dublin, Ireland this past weekend.
Because of other planned protests, Mr. Blair canceled a London book signing this week. Now he has cancelled a second signing.
Tony Blair's memoirs, A Journey, have broken sales records for this kind of book, shooting to the top of Amazon's best-seller list and becoming the fastest-selling autobiography ever for Waterstone.
As we reflect on 9/11 this week, Mr. Blair has said in an interview that radical Islam is the greatest threat facing humanity today.
Blair explained that there are truly difficult issues.
How extremists who cannot tolerate any questioning of the Koran are already demonstrating and chanting "death to America" ahead of a Florida church's now-tabled burning of the Koran on 9/11 illustrates that the west is dealing with a very different mindset from that of a country like the United States where freedom of speech is sacrosanct.
Said the former Prime Minister, "This extremism is so deep that in the end they have to know that they're facing a stronger will than theirs."
Blair is convinced that "if they could, they would use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."
He also warned that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, and that Iran must be told "we will stop them."
As seen from Mr. Blair's book signings, people are aligned on both sides of these issues and are likely to become more polarized as the dangers mount.
In the months and years ahead, it's going to be vital to be able to differentiate between peace-loving Muslims and radicals. It's so easy to scapegoat a readily-identifiable group of people, as happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany in the holocaust-and has always happened to minorities down through the centuries.
This is especially the case since there are so many radicals. Although it's believed those with the potential for radical action number no more than eight percent of the total Islamic population of the world, one newspaper columnist estimated this number could be as high as eighty million individuals.
How does one prevent serious terrorism if such numbers ever become mobilized? How does one keep populations from scapegoating innocent members of the Islamic faith?
The challenge is enormous and may prove to be decisive for the character of the century ahead of us, just as World War I and World War II shaped the 20th century.
It will be essential for conscious people to manifest compassion in both public and private life, showing that love can trump fear.
At the same time, compassion doesn't mean weakness. It doesn't mean gullibility, as was the case with the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at the time of Hitler's ascendancy.
There is a helpful image in the story of The Little Prince, penned by French pioneering aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1944.
Talking with the pilot who has crashed in the Sahara Desert, the Little Prince asks why roses have thorns. The pilot comes up with some lame answer, impatient as he is to try to fix his airplane.
The Little Prince flashes back that roses have thorns in order to look fierce.
It's like the Zen story in which a student was robbed and the master asked why the student didn't hit the thief with his umbrella.
Peace, tranquility, fairness, kindness-these thrive not from weakness but when we are strong in presence.
The more solidly grounded we are in presence, the more present we become in our everyday life-and presence is powerful.
Threats are very different in character from presence. It would be interesting to see what would happen in the current emerging crisis if consciousness were to inform our actions, so that we approach this crisis in the power of presence.
Because of other planned protests, Mr. Blair canceled a London book signing this week. Now he has cancelled a second signing.
Tony Blair's memoirs, A Journey, have broken sales records for this kind of book, shooting to the top of Amazon's best-seller list and becoming the fastest-selling autobiography ever for Waterstone.
As we reflect on 9/11 this week, Mr. Blair has said in an interview that radical Islam is the greatest threat facing humanity today.
Blair explained that there are truly difficult issues.
How extremists who cannot tolerate any questioning of the Koran are already demonstrating and chanting "death to America" ahead of a Florida church's now-tabled burning of the Koran on 9/11 illustrates that the west is dealing with a very different mindset from that of a country like the United States where freedom of speech is sacrosanct.
Said the former Prime Minister, "This extremism is so deep that in the end they have to know that they're facing a stronger will than theirs."
Blair is convinced that "if they could, they would use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."
He also warned that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, and that Iran must be told "we will stop them."
As seen from Mr. Blair's book signings, people are aligned on both sides of these issues and are likely to become more polarized as the dangers mount.
In the months and years ahead, it's going to be vital to be able to differentiate between peace-loving Muslims and radicals. It's so easy to scapegoat a readily-identifiable group of people, as happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany in the holocaust-and has always happened to minorities down through the centuries.
This is especially the case since there are so many radicals. Although it's believed those with the potential for radical action number no more than eight percent of the total Islamic population of the world, one newspaper columnist estimated this number could be as high as eighty million individuals.
How does one prevent serious terrorism if such numbers ever become mobilized? How does one keep populations from scapegoating innocent members of the Islamic faith?
The challenge is enormous and may prove to be decisive for the character of the century ahead of us, just as World War I and World War II shaped the 20th century.
It will be essential for conscious people to manifest compassion in both public and private life, showing that love can trump fear.
At the same time, compassion doesn't mean weakness. It doesn't mean gullibility, as was the case with the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at the time of Hitler's ascendancy.
There is a helpful image in the story of The Little Prince, penned by French pioneering aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1944.
Talking with the pilot who has crashed in the Sahara Desert, the Little Prince asks why roses have thorns. The pilot comes up with some lame answer, impatient as he is to try to fix his airplane.
The Little Prince flashes back that roses have thorns in order to look fierce.
It's like the Zen story in which a student was robbed and the master asked why the student didn't hit the thief with his umbrella.
Peace, tranquility, fairness, kindness-these thrive not from weakness but when we are strong in presence.
The more solidly grounded we are in presence, the more present we become in our everyday life-and presence is powerful.
Threats are very different in character from presence. It would be interesting to see what would happen in the current emerging crisis if consciousness were to inform our actions, so that we approach this crisis in the power of presence.
